Information centric networking for long term evolution

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a method for improving content delivery for a user equipment (UE) is implemented on a computing device and includes: receiving a request from an application layer on the UE, determining whether said request is an ICN-based request using Information Centric Networking (ICN) transport protocol or an IP-based request using Internet Protocol (IP) transport protocol, and for each ICN-based request according to the determining: forwarding the ICN-based request to an ICN function on the UE, and compressing ICN headers in the ICN-based request using robust header (RoHC) compression.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority from U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/356,283, filed on Jun. 29,2016.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the deployment of informationcentric networking (ICN) in long term evolution (LTE) mobile networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Globally, over 1.3 billion subscribers use Long Term Evolution (LTE)technology, with annual growth of ˜100% annually. Existing LTE networksare based on ‘Global System Mobile Association’ (GSMA), 3rd GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) standards and various specificationsproviding architectural details. LTE network architectures typically useInternet Protocol (IP) as the main transport protocol for control plane(signaling messages), user plane (content delivery) and management plane(Operations, administration and management functions) communications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully fromthe following detailed description, taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic illustration of an exemplary ICNenabled LTE architecture, constructed and operative in accordance withembodiments described herein;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are simplified schematic diagrams of exemplary userequipment (UE) protocol stacks for implementing ICN according to thearchitecture of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 and 6 are simplified schematic diagrams illustrating anexemplary mobile base station protocol stack aligned opposite a UEprotocol stack, and an exemplary evolved packet core (EPC) protocolstack, according to the architecture of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a simplified schematic diagram which illustrates a logicalflow for requests received by a mobile base station from a UE andforwarded to mobile gateway according to the architecture of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a simplified schematic diagram illustrating an exemplarymobile base station protocol stack, aligned opposite a UE protocolstack, and either another mobile base station protocol stack or aMobility Management Entity (MME) according to the architecture of FIG.1;

FIG. 8 illustrates a 3GPP protocol configuration field layout; and

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate an exemplary attach procedure for a UEaccording to the architecture of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Overview

A method for improving content delivery for a user equipment (UE) isimplemented on a computing device and includes receiving a request froman application layer on the UE, determining whether said request is anICN-based request using Information Centric Networking (ICN) transportprotocol or an IP-based request using Internet Protocol (IP) transportprotocol, and for each ICN-based request according to the determining:forwarding the ICN-based request to an ICN function on the UE, andcompressing ICN headers in the ICN-based request using robust header(RoHC) compression.

A method for improving content delivery is performed on a mobile basestation and includes: configuring the mobile base station to support ICNtransport protocol, and storing content for delivery over the ICNtransport protocol in an ICN content cache on the mobile base station.

A method for supporting ICN on a long term evolution (LTE) evolvedpacket core (EPC) device includes: receiving an initial attach requestfrom a user equipment (UE), where the initial attach request includes anindication of support for ICN transport protocol on the UE,authenticating the UE, creating a session for the UE, where a PacketData Network (PDN) type is assigned for the session is ICN.

Description

It will be appreciated by persons of ordinary skill in the art that thereliance on IP as the main transport protocol for LTE's user plane maybe inefficient primarily due to IP's optimization for layer-3 payloadtransfer. The optimization for network layer-3 effectively renders IPless efficient for application layer-7 content delivery (offline video,real-time streaming video or time sensitive online gaming etc.). Forexample, when delivering content in unicast, each mobile unit receives aseparate stream from a content server, thereby making redundant use oflimited network resources. It will be appreciated that there have beenrecent advances in multicast and broadcast technologies for contentdelivery in LTE networks, but actual deployment in the field is limitedor considered experimental due to a complex signaling architecture.Furthermore, such technologies require separate frequency spectrums,which are also limited resources in the mobile environment. It willtherefore be appreciated that LTE's current architecture may beinefficient and non-optimal for high volume content delivery to mobiledevices.

Information Centric Networking (ICN) is a rapidly evolving technologyfor efficient multimedia content delivery to end devices using ContentDelivery Network (CDN) engines, caches, servers, and/or repositories.Existing research and development for ICN has primarily focused on fixedwireline networks and limited wireless networks using Wi-Fi, etc. Nospecification or standard is currently in use for including ICN in LTEarchitecture.

It will be appreciated that ICN may remedy some of the deficiencies ofIP in an LTE environment. For example, in IP, resource names aretransitory, thereby necessitating redundant setup for requests for thesame resource from different network entities. In ICN, resource namesare persistent, regardless of physical storage location. Accordingly, agiven resource may be allocated a unique name that may be usedconsistently and uniformly throughout a network.

In accordance with embodiments described herein, LTE architecture maytherefore be modified to support ICN for content delivery byimplementing ICN in mobile user equipments (UEs), base stations (BSs),and/or the evolved packet core (EPC), sometimes referred to as a mobilepacket core (MPC). Reference is now made to FIG. 1 which represents asimplified schematic illustration of an exemplary ICN enabled LTEarchitecture 10, constructed and operative in accordance withembodiments described herein.

FIG. 1 depicts a 3GPP environment, where the control plane uses IP basedNon-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling on S-1 Mobility Management Entity(MME), and General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-Control(GTP-C) messages on S11 interfaces, for mobility management and sessionmanagement respectively. Similarly, for the user plane, IP based, S1-U,S5, and S8 interfaces are used in unicast for content delivery.

ICN enabled LTE architecture 10 comprises UE protocol stack 100, mobilebase station protocol stack 200 (e.g., implemented on an eNodeB asdepicted in FIG. 1), Evolved Packet Core/Packet Data Network Gateway(EPC/PGW) protocol stack 300, and CDN 400. As depicted in FIG. 1, inorder to improve efficiency for user plane content delivery from ICNenabled CDN 400, ICN may be implemented instead of, or in parallel withEP, as a dual stack protocol stack for a UE and PGW.

As referred to herein, a UE is any type of device which attaches o acellular network using 3G/UMTS or LTE technologies. The protocols andsoftware stack used inside an LTE capable UE may therefore support both3G and LTE software inter-working and handover. The latest 3GPP Release13 (Rel.13) (and subsequent) specifications describe the use of both IPand non-IP protocols to establish logical/session connectivity. Inaccordance with embodiments described herein, this specifiedfunctionality may be leveraged to deploy an ICN protocol stack in a UE.

In accordance with embodiments described herein, ICN may be implementedin a UE by inclusion of a forwarding agent function inserted between theapplication and network layers. This forwarding agent function mayinterface with the application layer, and may be configured to provideforwarding decision algorithms to route requests. For example,forwarding decisions may be based on criteria such as applicationpreference (e.g., ICN vs IP transport), content locations, contenttypes, publisher's details, cost, network congestion, quality of service(QoS) and/or any other customizable parameters. For example, theforwarding agent function may, in at least one embodiment, monitorapplication layer parameters through software probes to discover networkstatus, preference etc. and apply this to forwarding decisionalgorithms.

For example, ICN may be implemented in a dual stack arrangement inparallel with IP for a UE as represented in UE protocol stack 100. Inaccordance with embodiments described herein, the UE ICN transportprotocol may communicate with either the ICN function in EPC/PGWprotocol stack 300 (if, for example, ICN is implemented in the PGW),and/or an ICN function in CDN 400, depending upon how, and to whatextent, ICN is implemented in the network.

It will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that such anarrangement may not require changes to device (i.e., the UE) modemfirmware because ICN may be overlaid on top of IP without modificationof the native environment. This approach may minimize the resourcesrequired to provide ICN functionality while also maintaining fullsupport for legacy IP functionality. Reference is now made to FIG. 2which is a simplified schematic diagram of an exemplary dual stack UEprotocol stack 100 for implementing ICN in parallel with IP for a UE inaccordance with embodiments described herein.

UE protocol stack 100 comprises application layer 110, forwarding agent120, IP function 130, ICN function 140, Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) 150, Radio Link Control (RLC) 160, Medium Access Control (MAC)170 and physical layer (PHY L1) 180.

Application layer 110 may refer to the protocol layer for any of avariety of software and/or hardware applications implemented on a UE insystem 10, for example, but not limited to, applications for theprovision and display of content on the UE. It will be appreciated thatthe applications in applicaton layer 110 may not be uniformly configuredto support the use of a given transport protocol. Specifically, some ofthe applications may be configured to support the use of IP, some may beconfigured to support the use of ICN, and some may be configured tosupport both.

Accordingly, forwarding agent 120 may be configured to route outgoingtraffic (e.g., fetch requests from CDN 400, communications with otherUEs, etc.) from application layer 110 via either IP function 130 or ICNfunction 140 based on the capabilities of the originating applicationsin application layer 110. In accordance with embodiments describedherein, forwarding agent 120 may be implemented as a software basedrouter implemented using any suitable mechanism such as, for example,Representational State Transfer (REST), TCP/IP socket and/or ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML), etc.

Forwarding agent 120 may be configured to handle any one of three typesof requests from application layer 110: IP-specific, where theapplication requests IP transport (either because the applicationdoesn't support ICN or has, for whatever reason, been configured toprefer IP); ICN-specific, where the application requests ICN transport(either because the application doesn't support IP or has, for whateverreason, been configured to prefer ICN); or IP/ICN, where the applicationsupports both IP and ICN and allows forwarding agent 120 to determinewhich transport protocol to use.

Forwarding agent 120 may then forward the application request to eitherIP function 130 or ICN function 140. It will be appreciated that IPfunction 130 may represent already existing functionality in the LTEstandard, such that minimal changes, if any, may be needed to implementIP function 130 in architecture 10. For example, in accordance with atleast one embodiment described herein, forwarding agent 120 may use aTCP/IP socket mechanism to communicate with IP function 130.

It will be appreciated that as described hereinabove, ICN may typicallybe more efficient than IP, such that forwarding agent 120 may beconfigured to prefer to route communications through ICN function 140 ifa request from application layer 110 does not specify a preference fortransport protocol.

In accordance with embodiments described herein, ICN function 140 mayforward ICN interest packets and/or data packets using ICN overlay overIP to IP function 130. ICN interest packets are typically packets inwhich a request for content is included, whereas ICN data packets areresponse packets including requested content.

It will be appreciated that PDCP 150 may comprise existing PDCPfunctionality as currently implemented in existing LTE architecture. IPfunction 130 may therefore forward native IP traffic to PDCP 150, usinga known header compression mechanism for IP. In accordance withembodiments described herein, PDCP 150 may also comprise additionalfunctionality to support ICN overlaid over IP. PDCP 150 may also beconfigured to support header compression for ICN. For example, currentPDCP implementations for LTE use robust header compression RoHC) on airinterface. In accordance with embodiments described herein, headercompression for ICN may be implemented in PDCP 150 using a generallysimilar RoHC (RFC3095) header compression technique with enhancedalgorithms that also support ICN.

It will be appreciated that RLC 160, MAC 170, and PHY L1 180 may begenerally unaffected by the implementation of ICN protocol in UEprotocol stack 100. Communications received by RLC 160 from PDCP 150 maybe in the form of either native IP or ICN over IP; in either case,continued processing with UE protocol stack 100 may be consistent withexisting IP only implementations.

In accordance with some embodiments described herein, a UE may beimplemented with native ICN functionality to connect to a mobilenetwork, where the mobile network may fetch content frominternet/application servers within mobile provider to send some data toUE/application servers. For embodiments in which native ICNfunctionality is provided, significant changes may be needed in devicemodem firmware and other software upgrades to support NAS signaling,mobility and/or session management.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3 which is a simplified schematic diagramof an exemplary native ICN UE protocol stack 101 for implementing ICN ona UE in accordance with embodiments described herein. Protocol stack 101may be generally similar to protocol stack 100 except as noted herein.Accordingly, protocol stack 110 may comprise application layer 110, RLC160, MAC layer 170 and physical layer 180, each of which mayrespectively function in a generally similar manner as similarlyreferenced elements in protocol stack 100.

Protocol stack 101 also comprises forwarding agent 121 and ICN function140. Forwarding agent 121 may be a modified version of forwarding agent120 configured to support communication between applications inapplication layer 110 and ICN function 140. Similar to forwarding agent120, forwarding agent 121 may be implemented as a software based routerimplemented using any suitable mechanism such as, for example,Representational State Transfer (REST), TCP/IP socket and/or ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML), etc.

It will be appreciated that similar to the application layer 110 in FIG.2, the applications installed in application layer 110 of FIG. 3 may becompatible with either IP and/or ICN functionality. Accordingly,forwarding agent 121 may be configured to handle any one of three typesof requests from application layer 110: IP-specific, where theapplication requests IP transport (either because the applicationdoesn't support ICN or has, for whatever reason, been configured toprefer IP); ICN-specific, where the application requests ICN transport(either because the application doesn't support IP or has, for whateverreason, been configured to prefer ICN); or IP/ICN, where the applicationsupports both IP and ICN and allows forwarding agent 121 to determinewhich transport protocol to use.

Forwarding agent 121 may therefore be operative to forward nativeICN-based requests from application layer 110 to ICN function 140.Forwarding agent 121 may also be operative to forward protocol agnostic(i.e., where no transport protocol is specified) requests to ICNfunction 140. Forwarding agent 121 may also be operative to overlay ICNover IP-based requests and to forward the overlaid requests to ICNfunction 140.

Protocol stack 101 also comprises PDCP 150, which may be modified tosupport ICN as in the embodiment of FIG. 2. Accordingly, PDCP 150 may beoperative to support both native IP and ICN overlaid over. As discussedwith respect to the embodiment of FIG. 2, ICN may be supported using aRoHC (RFC3095) header compression technique having enhanced algorithmsto implement ICN.

In accordance with the embodiment of FIG. 3, when the UE connects to amobile network, the mobile network may employ ICN functionality to fetchcontent from internet/application servers serviced by the mobileprovider to provide data to the UE. In existing, IP-based LTE, when agiven UE is powered up, it establishes a radio link connection with abase station and starts attach procedures with the LTE network accordingto procedures described in the 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.401.Since there is no IP function in the embodiment of FIG. 3, the UE mayperform the attach procedures using ICN protocol. For example, the UEmay be configured to use a Protocol Configuration Option InformationElement (PCO IE) field to communicate its ICN capability during attachprocedures.

It will be appreciated that in order to support native ICN functionalityfor NAS signaling, mobility and/or session management, significantchanges may be needed in device modem firmware and software upgrades.Accordingly, in order to limit the impact on NAS signaling—due todependencies on the Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home SubscriberServer (HSS) and other elements—in accordance with some embodimentsdescribed herein, NAS signaling may be maintained using IP, whereas ICNmay be implemented and used natively for content delivery.

It will be appreciated that as referred to herein, the term ‘userequipment’ (UE) may be inclusive of devices used to initiate acommunication, such as a computer, an electronic device such as aparking meter, vending machine, appliance, Internet of Things (IoT)device, etc., a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or electronicnotebook, a cellular telephone, an iPhone™, iPad™, Google Android™phone, an IP phone, a wearable electronic device, or any other device,component, element, or object capable of initiating voice, audio, video,media, or data exchanges within communication system 10. A UE may alsoinclude a suitable interface to a human user such as a microphone, adisplay, a keyboard, or other terminal equipment. It will further beappreciated that UEs may comprise a processor configured to operate theUE's software, firmware, and/or hardware components.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which is a simplified schematic diagramillustrating an exemplary mobile base station protocol stack 200 (e.g.,as implemented on an eNB as depicted in FIG. 4) aligned opposite a UEprotocol stack 100 and an exemplary EPC protocol stack 300 (e.g., asimplemented on an SGW/PGW as depicted in FIG. 4), in accordance withembodiments described herein. Reference is made also to FIG. 5 whichillustrates a logical flow for requests received by mobile base station201 from UE 105 and forwarded to mobile gateway 301. It will beappreciated that UE 105 may be an IP-only UE, or configured withprotocol stack 100 or 101 as described with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3;base station 201 may be configured with mobile base station protocolstack 200; and mobile gateway 301 (e.g., an SGW or PGW) may configuredwith EPC protocol stack 300.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, when UE 105 powers up, it may perform attachprocedures using IP protocol to send control messages. Depending on theconfiguration of UE 105, on successful attachment, UE 105 may haveICN-based identity, IP-based identity, or dual ICN+IP identity. When auser of UE 105 initiates a content request via an application on UE, therequest may subsequently be sent to base station 201, and then forwardedto mobile gateway 301 according to the following logic:

If UE 105 sends an ICN request (step 202), base station 201 may forwardthe request to mobile gateway 301 either using native ICN (if suchtransport is supported), or ICN as overlay on IP where native ICNsupport is unavailable.

If UE 105 sends an IP request (step 204), base station 201 may forwardthe request to mobile gateway 301 using native IP.

UE 105 may also send a non-specified “ICN or IP” request (step 206)accompanied by additional qualifying parameters such as weight,priority, cost, network congestion. It will be appreciated that theadditional qualifying parameters may be configurable. Base station 201may use the parameters to determine the most resource efficient optionfor forwarding the request from among native IP, native ICN, or ICN overIP, depending on the supported transport

Returning to FIG. 4, protocol stack 200 may be implemented in a mobilebase station (e.g. an eNodeB or eNB) and may comprise IP function 230and ICN function 240 incorporated at the network layer on an S1-Uinterface between the mobile base station and an EPC element (e.g. SGWor PGW). It will be appreciated that an existing IP based S1-U interfacemay be modified to support a dual stack with both ICN and IP routing;this interface may be used to carry user plane traffic through a GPRSTransport Protocol (GTP) tunnel to either IP function 330 or ICNfunction 340 in protocol stack 300. It will be appreciated that in suchmanner, ICN functionality may be incorporated into protocol stack 200without disturbing the MAC layer.

When ICN Interest or Data packets are received from a dual stack ICN/IPor native ICN UE (e.g., according to the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 3),ICN function 240 may be used to process the received packets. If S1-Usupports only IP routing, i.e., not ICN, ICN messages may be overlaid ontop of IP. Similarly, when an IP-based request for content delivery isreceived, it will use the standard S1-U interface.

It will be appreciated that the implementation of ICN function 240 inprotocol stack 200 may facilitate content caching for local deliveryusing the ICN transport protocol. It will be appreciated that ICNfunction 340 in protocol stack 300 is implemented at a SGW or PGW tosupport ICN based routing for the protocol stack 200 of base station.ICN function 340 may facilitate servicing content cached at the SGW orPGW. Similar ICN functionality may also be implemented at CDN 400.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6 which is a simplified schematic diagramillustrating an exemplary mobile base station protocol stack 200 alignedopposite either UE protocol stack 100 or 101 and an exemplary MME 302,in accordance with embodiments described herein. As will be describedwith respect to the embodiment of FIG. 6, depending on the configurationof the devices involved, NAS signaling may also be implemented with ICNtransport. To implement ICN for NAS signaling and mobility management,the following steps may be performed:

A UE using protocol stack 100 or 101 may send NAS messages using a radiointerface. The receiving base station (e.g, eNB) may process the NASmessage and forward it to MME 302 using a S1-C interface. The S1-Cinterface may be configured to support IP, ICN, or dual stack (IP+ICN).If the NAS message was received using ICN protocol, then the basestation may process the message and forward it to MME 302 using ICNtransport. If ICN transport is not supported between the base stationand MME 302, the base station may forward the NAS message using ICNoverlay on IP transport. If the NAS message was received using IPprotocol, then the base station may process the message and forward itto MME 302 using IP transport.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7 which is a simplified schematic diagramillustrating an exemplary mobile base station protocol stack 200 alignedopposite either UE protocol stack 100 or 101, and either anotherprotocol stack 200 or MME 302, in accordance with embodiments describedherein. It will be appreciated that in operation, a UE sends mobilitymanagement messages such as location updates, handover requests, etc.Handover requests may be sent when the UE moves or it detects a bettersignal from another base station. The associated handover messages areprocessed via either X2 interface (for eNB to eNB handovers), or S1interface (for eNB to MME/SGW handovers). ICN has built-in functionalityto support mobility by re-expressing Interest when the UE moves ordetects a better signal from another base station. The following stepsmay be used to implement ICN for mobility management:

For a handover to MME 302, if a mobility management message is receivedusing ICN protocol, then the base station may process and forward themessage to MME 302 using ICN transport via the S1-C interface. If ICNtransport is not supported between the base station and MME 302, thebase station may forward the message using ICN overlay on IP transport.For a handover to another base station (i.e., eNB to eNB), the basestation may send handover control messages as well as user data usingICN protocol via an X2 interface. If ICN is not supported on the X2interface, then the base station may use ICN overlay over IP transportvia the X2 interface.

If the mobility management message is received using IP protocol, thebase station may process the message and forward it using IP transportto either MME 302 using S1-C interface, or to another base station usingX2 interface. For eNB to eNB handover, both handover control messagesand user data may be sent by the base station.

If the mobility management message is received using IP protocol, thenthe base station may determine which protocol, IP or ICN, to be used.The base station may factor weight, priority, cost, etc. into thedetermination process.

It will be appreciated that as referred to herein, a base station mayinclude any subset of base station functionalities for a Radio AccessNetwork (RAN), such as for example: NodeB functionalities, Radio NetworkController (RNC) functionalities, Home NodeB (HNB), and base transceiverstation (BTS) functionalities for 2nd Generation (2G) and/or 3rdGeneration (3G) mobile access network technologies such as Global Systemfor Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM (EDGE),radio access network (GERAN), and/or Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS) Terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN); evolved Node B(eNodeB or eNB) functionalities and/or Home eNodeB (HeNB)functionalities for 4th Generation (4G) LTE mobile access networktechnologies such as evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), 5th Generation (5G) accessnetwork base station functionalities; combinations thereof, or the like.

In general, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) provides session managementfunctionality for a UE. When a UE is powered-on, it performs NASsignaling and after successful authentication it attaches with either aPGW for LTE networks or a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) for 3Gcellular network. The PGW or GGSN is the anchoring point for the UE andis responsible for service creations, authorization, sessionmaintenance, eventual termination upon UE power-off, etc. In accordancewith embodiments described herein, ICN functionality may be implementedin the EPC.

Returning to FIG. 1, ICN function 340 may be inserted at the sessionmanagement layer of protocol stack 300 in parallel with existing IPfunctionality. The session management layer is used for performingattach procedures and assigning a logical identity to the UE user. Aftersuccessful authentication by HSS, the MME may send a Create SessionRequest (CSR) to the SGW, and the SGW may send the CSR to the PGW.

In accordance with embodiments described herein, a CSR may be enhancedto include a Protocol Configuration Option Information Element (PCO IE),which may be used to indicate ICN support by the UE providing therequest, according to the embodiments of FIGS. 3 and 4.

For a dual stack UE (e.g., the UE of FIG. 3), the PGW may supportattachment in terms of both IP and ICN based transport; the UE name mayhe registered and used for session management. For an ICN capable UE,the PGW may be configured to provide ICN attachment. For a native IP UE,the PGW may use known IP functionality for attachment.

It will be appreciated that in accordance with embodiments describedherein, ICN function 340 may be configured with full ICN functionality,such as, for example, forwarding capabilities (e.g., Content Store (CS),Pending Interest Table (PIT) and Forwarding lnformation Base (FIB)tables). In accordance with at least one embodiment, the PGW may cachecontents locally according to ICN protocol using CS functionalityprovided therein.

Reference is now made to FIG. 8 which illustrates a 3GPP protocolconfiguration field layout 400 that may be leveraged to provide supportfor ICN in LTE according to embodiments described herein.

Octet 3, as denoted by reference numeral 410, may be used to carryconfiguration protocol information (where configuration protocols definea PDN type) which may be enhanced to contain details about IP (eitherIPv4, IPv6, or both) or ICN. Furthermore, combinations of Octet 4 to Z,as denoted by reference numeral 420, may be used to provide additionalinformation related to ICN capability. The PCO IE parameter (asdiscussed hereinabove) may be matched between UE and EPC gateways (e.g.,MME, SGW, PGW) so that a UE may attach successfully.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 9A and 9B which together illustrate anattach procedure according to 3GPP TS 23.401 V13.61 (2016-03) section5.3.2.1. In accordance with embodiments described herein, steps 1 and12-22 may be enhanced to include additional parameters to facilitate ICNimplementation. As described hereinabove, ICN capability may beindicated in a PCO IE using a Tag Length Value (TLV) format. Enhancedfunctionality may be added to the existing steps of the attach procedureto support enhanced ICN capabilities in a PGW in addition to normal IPattach procedures.

At Step 1, a given UE may send an initial attach request. If the UE isICN capable, the initial attach request may include the PCO IE fieldpopulated with an indication of ICN capability. Once the attach requestis successful, the PGW assigns an address for the UE. For an IP-basedUE, i.e., PDN=IP, the PGW may assign either an IPv4 or IPv6 (Link local)address in the create session request (CSR) in step 13. For PDNtype=ICN, the PGW will register the UE with a name according to the ICNprotocol. This ICN-based name may then be used for the creation ofsession and context related functions (e.g., billing, mediation,enhanced charging function/deep packet inspection, lawful intercept,etc.) for the UE during the session.

As referred to herein, an EPC may include one or more mobile gatewayshosting any or all functionalities for any combination of: ServingGateway (SGW), Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node(SGSN), Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PGW), and/or Gateway GPRSSupport Node (GGSN) operations. Traditionally, an SGW is a data-planeelement that can provide functionality for managing user mobility andinterfaces with RAN nodes (e.g., eNodeBs, NodeBs, HeNBs, HNBs, etc.). AnSGW may also maintain data paths between RAN nodes and one or more PGWs.A PGW typically provides IP connectivity access network (IP-CAN) sessionconnectivity for UEs to external Packet Data Networks (PDNs) (e.g., theInternet).

As referred to herein in this Specification, the terms ‘user’,‘subscriber’, ‘UE’ and ‘user/UE’ can be used interchangeably. It shouldbe understood that a user, or more particularly, a subscriber, can beassociated with the operation of a corresponding UE for one or morevoice and/or data sessions. In various embodiments, a subscriberassociated with a given UE can be identified using one or moreidentifiers such as, for example, an International Mobile SubscriberIdentity (IMSI) or a Temporary IMSI (T-IMSI). An IMSI for a givensubscriber is typically stored on a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)(e.g., a SIM card) within the subscriber's UE.

It is appreciated that software components of the present invention may,if desired, be implemented in ROM (read only memory) form. The softwarecomponents may, generally, be implemented in hardware, if desired, usingconventional techniques. It is further appreciated that the softwarecomponents may be instantiated, for example: as a computer programproduct or on a tangible medium. In some cases, it may be possible toinstantiate the software components as a signal interpretable by anappropriate computer, although such an instantiation may be excluded incertain embodiments of the present invention.

It is appreciated that various features of the invention which are, forclarity, described in the contexts of separate embodiments may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the invention which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or in anysuitable subcombination.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited by what has been particularly shown anddescribed hereinabove. Rather the scope of the invention is defined bythe appended claims and equivalents thereof:

What is claimed is:
 1. A user equipment (UE) comprising: a processor;and a protocol stack operative to be used by said processor comprising:an application layer, an Information Centric Networking (ICN) transportfunction, a forwarding agent, wherein said forwarding agent is operativeto receive ICN-based requests and Internet Protocol (IP) based requestsfrom said application layer, and to forward said ICN-based requests tosaid ICN transport function, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol(PDCP) operative to receive said ICN-based requests from said ICNtransport function, and forward said ICN-based requests to a Radio LinkControl (RLC) protocol.
 2. The UE according to claim 1 and wherein saidprotocol stack further comprises: an IP transport function implementedin parallel to said ICN transport function, wherein: said forwardingagent is further operative to forward said IP based requests to said IPtransport function; said ICN transport function is operative to forwardsaid ICN-based requests to said IP transport function; and said IPtransport function is operative to forward said ICN-based requests asICN over IP to said PDCP.
 3. The UE according to claim 2 and whereinsaid forwarding agent is further operative to: receive ICN+IP requestsfrom said application layer, wherein said ICN+IP requests are associatedwith both said ICN transport protocol and said IP transport protocol;determine a preferred transport protocol from among said ICN transportprotocol and said IP transport protocol according to parameters forlimiting network resource usage; and forward said ICN+IP requestsaccording to said preferred transport protocol.
 4. The UE according toclaim 1 and wherein: said ICN transport function is implemented asnative ICN without implementation of an IP transport function in saidprotocol stack; and said forwarding agent is operative to send said IPbased requests to said ICN transport function.
 5. The UE according toclaim 1 and wherein said PDCP is further operative to use robust header(RoHC) compression to compress headers in said ICN-based requests. 6.The UE according to claim 1 and wherein Non-Access Stratum (NAS)signaling for said UE is IP-based.
 7. The UE according to claim 1 andwherein said UE is operative to communicate via a Long Term Evolution(LTE) network.
 8. A method for improving content delivery for a userequipment (UE), the method implemented on a computing device andcomprising: receiving a request from an application layer on said UE;determining whether said request is an ICN-based request usingInformation Centric Networking (ICN) transport protocol or an IP-basedrequest using Internet Protocol (IP) transport protocol; and upondetermining that said request comprises an ICN-based request: forwardingsaid ICN-based request to an ICN transport function, on said UE, andcompressing ICN headers in said ICN-based request using robust header(RoHC) compression.
 9. The method according to claim 8 and furthercomprising: receiving content from a content distribution network (CDN)via said ICN transport protocol.
 10. The method according to claim 9 andwherein said receiving content comprises receiving said content from acache on an ICN-enabled mobile base station.
 11. The method according toclaim 9 and wherein said receiving content comprises receiving saidcontent from a cache on an ICN-enabled evolved packet core (EPC)gateway.
 12. The method according to claim 9 and wherein said content isreceived from an ICN multicast to more than one said UE.
 13. The methodaccording to claim 8 and further comprising: indicating in an initialattach request sent by said UE that said UE is ICN capable.
 14. Themethod according to claim 13 and wherein said indicating is viainsertion of an ICN indication in a Protocol Configuration OptionInformation Element (PCO IE) field in said initial attach request. 15.The method according to claim 14 and wherein said initial attach requestis associated with attaching to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobilenetwork.
 16. The method according to claim 8 and further comprisingreceiving an assigned ICN name upon success of said initial attachrequest.
 17. The method according to claim 8 and further comprisingoverlaying, said ICN-based request over said IP transport protocol,wherein said UE is implemented with support for both said ICN transportprotocol and said IP transport protocol.
 18. The method according toclaim 8 and further comprising: using said ICN transport protocol forcontent delivery; and using said IP transport protocol for Non-AccessStratum (NAS) signaling.
 19. The method according to claim 8 andwherein: said receiving comprises receiving ICN+IP requests from saidapplication layer, wherein said ICN+IP requests are associated with bothsaid ICN transport protocol and said IP transport protocol; and saiddetermining comprises determining a preferred transport protocol fromamong said ICN transport protocol and said IP transport protocolaccording to parameters for limiting network resource usage.
 20. A userequipment (UE) comprising: means for receiving a request from anapplication layer on said UE; means for determining whether said requestis an ICN-based request using Information Centric Networking (ICN)transport protocol or an IP-based request using Internet Protocol (IP)transport protocol; means for forwarding each said ICN-based request toan ICN function on said UE; and means for compressing ICN headers insaid each ICN-based request using robust header (RoHC) compression.